An ongoing problem in the graphic arts field is printing on plastics and plastic-laminated substrates. Credit cards, ID cards and the like are example of products having plastic substrates that require printing on one or both surfaces. Many ordinary liquid inks are designed to work well with paper because the ink can soak into the porous fiber network therein. However, because most plastics do not absorb liquid ink the way paper does, ordinary ink typically does not produce acceptable results on plastic. While the ink will dry, it tends to remain on the surface of plastic substrates where it is not durable. The ink is easily worn off or it tends to smudge or smear. Attempts have been made to address this problem by altering either the ink or the plastic substrate to make them more compatible, but doing so raises the cost of the materials and may adversely affect their basic functions as well. For example, adding an adhesive to the ink may assist in making it bond to the plastic. Or additives, such as talc, can be incorporated in the plastic to enhance its ability to absorb ordinary ink. Additionally, there are plastics that will absorb ink or other aqueous materials, but they also thus absorb moisture from any subsequent exposure source, particularly after printing, and they can thereby swell to twenty to thirty times their normal size. While these approaches offer some improvement over the use of ordinary ink on plastic, the need still exists for alternative solutions.